A/N: Sorry this episode took so long, guys. I had the world's worst writer's block, and I was losing my inspiration. This episode isn't that great, but I promise that the next one will be better.

Without further ado, I give you, Power Rangers Element Storm Episode 10. Enjoy!

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Episode 10: Fight Fire With Water

Erica sighed. It had been two days since the battle between Will and Stephen, and the latter had still not woken up. He lay in his room in an unconscious state, sometimes lying still and peaceful, other times mumbling and sweating in his sleep. Once, he even shot a bit of Dark Fire out at the wall, but luckily Erica was able to use her Dark Water to put it out. She and Rufus didn't know what to do. They had tried waking Stephen up, but he was entirely unresponsive to their efforts.

Now, they felt that they had to do something to fight against the Power Rangers. They couldn't just do nothing in Stephen's somewhat absence, but they weren't sure what to do. He had always been the one who came up with the plans, and the younger two relied on him in that sense. Could they somehow come up with a plan themselves that would work? They didn't know, but they felt they had to try.

Rufus looked over at Erica as she sighed. He had been gazing through the telescope while she stood not facing him, staring at the wall, lost in thought. Stepping away from the telescope, Rufus went over to the girl and laid a hand on her shoulder. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Erica," he said with a gentle tone in his voice. "Stephen will wake up soon, and all will be fine."

She looked at him, a bit surprised at his actions. Recovering, she spoke as well. "I'm sure he will," she said softly. "But what are we going to do in the mean time? We have to do something or he'll be mad at us when he wakes up."

Rufus' expression turned grim. "I know," he said. "We have to do something." He thought for a moment. "Erica, do you think you could come up with a monster we could send down? I'm sure the two of us could create it on our own, if we tried hard enough."

Erica nodded. "That's a good idea," she said. "At least then we're doing something so Stephen will see that we weren't totally helpless while he was out of it. I'm sure I can think of something good enough." She turned and went into her room, closing the door behind her.

Rufus smiled as she left, knowing that she would have a good monster for them in no time. Walking over to Stephen's room, he opened the door quietly and looked at the sleeping form of his leader, his expression changing to one of solemn respect. He couldn't believe that he had been defeated by Will so easily. Was Light Fire really that much stronger than Dark Fire? The Dark Elements were supposed to be stronger than the Light ones, right? Then why had all three of them been defeated by their Ranger counterparts? Shaking his head sadly, Rufus left the room and went back to the telescope.

The Rangers sat at their table in the café, accompanied by Marie, who was sitting in Sean's lap, Angela and Jorge, who had pulled another table over and were sitting next to them, and Del, who was not working today because Beth was. The eight of them were talking and laughing, having fun and enjoying each other's company.

Dan, Peg, Sean, and Tiz were secretly feeling extremely relieved right now. With Will as a Ranger and their leader, they felt that things were going to be easier for them in the future. To Dan, it felt as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders, because now he wasn't the only leader and he didn't feel so responsible for the team and for making decisions.

It was hard to believe that two days had already gone by since they had been captured by the Chaos Three and saved by the Trienith Red Ranger. Although, now that Dan thought about it, the two days had seemed to go by rather slowly, since there had been no battles with the Chaos Three since then. He could only guess that Stephen had not recovered yet from Will's last attack, and perhaps the other two could not think of what to do in his absence. Whatever the reason was, the Rangers were enjoying the bit of a break they were getting, even though it was sure to be only short lived.

Will stood behind the counter of the café and stared thoughtfully at Angela and Jorge. They looked so much like them, it was almost uncanny. He tried to dismiss the thought, knowing that it was impossible, but it remained prevalent in his mind. Sighing, he turned his attention back to the drinks he was making, trying to set his focus on something else; something much more real.

Like Dan, he also wondered why the Chaos Three hadn't attacked them again yet. Unlike Dan, though, he knew that if Stephen was out for a while, it would not be easy for Erica and Rufus to come up with anything to attack them with. Sure, they would think of something soon enough, but without Stephen, their leader and idea-maker, they would have trouble. Which was fine with him, Will thought grimly. The longer it took for the younger two to attack them, the better.

Erica came out of her room with a serious look on her face. Rufus, who had been gazing out through the telescope, turned to her expectantly and smiled.

"I've got a good one," she said, not having to explain what she was talking about. "And, I have an idea of how we can make it even better once we've created it."

"Oh?" Rufus asked, interested. "And what's that?"

The girl grinned. "We could give it your Dark Thunder," she said. "If it had that power, it would be almost as strong as you. The Rangers would have a hard time defeating it."

Rufus thought about this for a second. Then, he shook his head thoughtfully. "No," he said. "We should give it your powers."

Erica looked at him oddly. "Why my powers? Dark Water is the weakest of the three, and you know that."

"But, it's the strongest against Fire," Rufus said, eying her slyly. "And Light Fire as well. We tell this monster to attack Will specifically, and it might be able to defeat him, or at least do some serious damage. Stephen would he happy when he wakes up if he sees that we got some revenge for him."

Erica raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Perfect," she said, an evil tone in her voice. "Dark Water will go perfectly with the monster I have in mind."

"Then let's create him, shall we?" His companion nodded and the two of them stood in front of each other, arms extended above their heads, almost touching hands. It wasn't really a circle, but it was the best they could do with only two of them.

They closed their eyes and focused hard, concentrating on the monster in Erica's head. At last, in a flash of yellow and blue, the monster appeared in between them. It looked like a mix between a shark and an alligator, and most of its body was blue. It had a large dorsal fin down it's back, and it was covered with deep blue scales from head to toe. The face was that of an alligator, and its long, protruding snout was the only part of it that was green. It's blue eyes darted menacingly around the room, and it looked ready to fight.

Erica grinned at their creation. "While we were creating it, I gave it my powers," she said. Rufus nodded, then turned to the monster, looking at him seriously.

"You are to attack the Trienith Red Ranger especially," he said. "Use your Dark Water powers on him, and any of the other Rangers as well. But, mainly attack him." The monster nodded in agreement and understanding and Rufus smiled. "Your name shall be…Uzurin." As he said the name, the creature disappeared from the room, teleporting to the café.

Will sighed as he gazed out the window of the café. He saw the monster appear, but somehow it didn't surprise him. The other Rangers noticed it too, along with everyone else in the café. As always happened when a monster attacked, the Overclocked Café emptied as people fled for their lives. Soon, the only people left were Dan, Peg, Sean, Beth, Tiz, Will, Del, and Marie. The Rangers were standing outside, facing Uzurin, ready to morph and attack. Del and Marie stayed inside, watching the potential battle through the window.

Will looked around at his team. "Ready, guys?" They nodded and prepared to morph.

"Element, Fire!"

"Element, Water!"

"Element, Wind!"

"Element, Earth!"

"Element, Thunder!"

"Element, Light Fire!"

The now morphed Rangers ran in and started to fight the monster. The battle was pretty normal at first, and this monster didn't seem any stronger than any other one they had fought. All of a sudden, though, he stretched out his powerful clawed arm and shoved Peg, Sean, Beth, and Tiz out of the way, sending them flying off to the side. Now, he was facing only Will and Dan.

"I have specific orders to attack you," Uzurin said in his gruff, hoarse-sounding voice, looking at directly at Will. The monster grinned, if you could call it a grin, and he put his hands out in front of him. The Rangers had no idea what to expect. No monster they had fought had ever done anything like this before. Suddenly, a powerful blast of Dark Water burst from his outstretched hands, shooting straight towards Will. Seeing this, Dan let out a cry and he ran over and pushed Will out of the way, allowing the blast to hit him instead of his leader.

He screamed in pain and flew backwards, hitting the ground hard and demorphing. The Trienith Red Ranger stared after his fallen team mate, who was now unconscious.

"Dan!" he cried, running over to him and kneeling beside him. It was obvious that he was hurt badly.

Uzurin growled angrily. "I missed! Dang it!" Glaring at the Red Rangers, he prepared for another shot. "But I won't miss this time!"

Before he had a chance to attack again, he felt himself being stabbed in the side by Peg's trident.

"Leave them alone!" The Blue Ranger's voice was harsh and angry as she continued to attack the monster. Beth ran over to help her while Sean and Tiz went to where Dan and Will were.

"Green Earth Daggers!" Beth called upon her weapons and moved in to attack Uzurin. But, before she got a chance, a familiar figure appeared next to her and she felt herself shocked with electricity. Crying out in pain, she fell over and demorphed. Rufus glared at her for a second then looked back at the monster.

"Come," he said. "We'll finish this later. Let's go now, Uzurin." As soon as he said the monster's name, the two of them disappeared in a flash of yellow, leaving no trace of ever having been there.

As Rufus and Uzurin appeared in the main room of the tower, Erica stood glaring at the monster.

"You attacked the wrong person!" she said angrily. She was about to continue when Rufus held up a hand, silencing her.

"It's okay," he said. "There's always next time. At least now their Red Ranger will be out of it for a while, and next time we attack Will, he won't be able to get in the way."

Erica sighed, still shaking her head at Uzurin.

"I will not fail you next time, Master," the monster said, giving a slight bow to Rufus. The youngest member of the Chaos Three grinned.

"I know you won't."

Tiz carried the unconscious form of Dan inside the café, taking him into the back room. He was followed by Peg and Will, who told the other two to wait out in the main room. Beth and Sean obeyed, sitting at their table with Del and Marie. They were silent for a while, hardly knowing what to say. At last, Beth spoke.

"I hope Dan will be okay," she whispered, her face wrinkling up with worry. From his spot on the other side of the table, Sean laid his hand on hers.

"He'll be fine, Bethy," he said, trying to sound confident. "Dan is strong, and he won't let something like this defeat him."

Beth smiled slightly. "That was brave of him to take a hit like that for Will."

Del smiled as well. "I'm sure any of you would have done the same thing," he said. "But, Dan was the closest one to him."

Beth nodded grimly. "And the one who the Dark Water will hurt the most…" Her voice trailed off as silence filled the room again. Marie, who was sitting next to Sean, leaned against her brother and sighed sadly.

In the back room of the café, Tiz gently lay Dan on Will's small cot. Peg stood towards the entrance of the room, gazing sadly at the Red Ranger.

"Is he going to be okay, Will?" she asked, not looking away from her friend. The Trienith Red Ranger shook his head.

"I don't know," he said. "Fire is weakest against Dark Water, so the attack may have done some serious damage to him."

"He'd better be okay," she replied, tears shining in her eyes, unnoticeable in the dimly lighted room. "He has to be. We need him." Her voice dropped to a soft whisper. "I need him…"

Will winced a little and sighed, closing his eyes. "That attack was meant for me," he said in an almost toneless voice. "Erica and Rufus must have wanted revenge for what I did to Stephen. But, instead, they got Dan. He saved me…" He paused. "It should be me who is hurt right now, not him," he added sadly.

As Tiz stood next to the cot and looked down at his best friend, anger began to build up in his heart. That monster was going to pay for what he did to Dan, whether it was intended for him or not. He vowed right then and there to destroy Uzurin no matter what it took. No one hurt his best friend and got away with it. Ever since the two of them were kids, they had always protected each other and gotten each other out of trouble when it was needed. Now, Dan had been hurt, and Tiz hadn't been able to protect him. Well, if he couldn't prevent it, he would at least avenge it.

Rufus watched Stephen as he continued to sleep in an unconscious state and sighed. Was he ever going to wake up? In a way, Rufus kind of wished he wouldn't wake up just yet. He hoped that he would have a chance to have Uzurin attack Will with his Dark Water before that happened. Maybe, if he got revenge for Stephen, he would be happy with him for once.

He remembered what Stephen had said to him that one time after he had kidnapped the Red Ranger.

"And, someday soon, you might be ready."

"R-ready for what?"

"You'll see when the time is right."

What was he talking about? What would Rufus be ready for? Questions filled his head, but he knew that even if Stephen wasn't unconscious right now, he wouldn't and shouldn't ask them. If he would see when the time was right, he hoped that the time would be right soon.

Thinking of the right time, he closed the door to Stephen's room softly and went over to the telescope. He had to decide when to send Uzurin back down for a second attack. He didn't want to attack to quickly, since the monster was still tired from his battle, but if he waited too long, the Red Ranger might have a chance to recover from the attack, which would make things more difficult. Looking through the telescope, he decided to wait just a little bit longer.

Will and Tiz had gone out into the main room, leaving Peg to be alone with Dan for a while. She was now sitting on a chair next to the top of the cot, silently gazing at Dan as he slept. He looked so peaceful and calm in his sleep, and, in a way, very serious, which was not like him at all. It was strange seeing him like that, and such a contrast to his usual expression. Somehow, it seemed almost haunting…

Peg shivered a little and gently laid her hand on the Red Ranger's forehead. She stroked it gently and smiled at him.

"You have to wake up soon, Dan," she whispered to him, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. "You have to be okay…" Suddenly, a serious, angry expression came to her face as anger bubbled inside her. "That monster will pay for what he did to you," she said, thinking aloud. "I promise, I will make him pay. If I ever see him again, I will personally destroy him, no matter what."

As Peg gazed at her friend, it seemed that his face changed slightly. A hint of a smile played on his lips, almost as if he had heard her and understood. She wondered at that, thinking it strangely ironic. She remembered having read before that sometimes, people who wake up from comas say that they heard everything that was going on around them, even though they couldn't wake up. She wondered if that's what was happening now.

Deciding to test it, she leaned over Dan and whispered softly. "I love you." The expression on his face didn't change, which disappointed Peg a little. Sighing, she spoke again, not knowing whether he would hear her or not. "Dan, I promise you, I will get revenge on that creature, and on the Chaos Three."

Rufus grinned as he watched Peg and Dan through the telescope. Although he didn't know what they were saying, he figured that Peg must be terribly upset about him being hurt. Even though the monster had hit the wrong person, Rufus was glad that he had hurt Dan rather than one of the other Rangers. At least now Peg would be hurting again, and Rufus still hated her with a passion for what she did to Erica. He wished her as much pain and suffering as could happen to her.

Erica came up from behind him and looked at him oddly, noticing that he had an evil grin on his face. It wasn't like Rufus, and she wondered what he was thinking about. As she came up to him, his expression changed and he smiled at her in his normal, cheerful way.

"I think it's time," he said, going over to the monster, who was standing not too far from them. "Go now," he said to him, giving him a serious look. "And do it right this time, Uzurin." The monster nodded understandingly as it disappeared in a flash.

Beth groaned as she looked outside and saw that Uzurin was back. "Can't they give us even a little bit of a break?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Apparently not," Will answered grimly. He got up and motioned for the others to follow him. Turning to the Green Ranger, he said, "Beth, go and get Peg."

The girl nodded and raced to the back room as the others went outside to face Uzurin.

When Beth got to the room, she saw Peg sitting next to Dan, looking at him sadly. She paused for a moment, not really wanting to interrupt them, but she knew that Peg would want to be involved in this fight.

"Hey," she said in a gentle tone as she stood in the doorway. Peg started and turned quickly to face Beth. "The monster's back." The change that came over the Blue Ranger's face almost scared her team mate as she grinned evilly.

"Good," she said, anger simmering in her voice. "I will make him pay for what he did to Dan." She seemed to be speaking more to herself than to Beth. Standing up, she pushed past the Green Ranger and ran outside to join the battle. Beth paused for a moment before following, looking at the sleeping form of the Red Ranger.

"I hope you'll be okay soon, Dan," she said softly. "For your sake and for Peg's…" With that, she took off after her friend to the outside of the café.

The other Rangers were already morphed when Beth got there, so she prepared to morph as well.

"Element, Earth!" she cried, running in to help fight. Peg and Tiz were attacking Uzurin while the others were fighting a bunch of Crodus that had apparently been sent down with him. Deciding that the Blue and Yellow Rangers were probably the most set on revenge for Dan, she went over and helped Will and Sean fight the Crodus.

Peg had her trident out and she was slashing Uzurin with it continuously, not allowing it to have any time to fight back. After a while, though, it broke free of her attacks and slapped her across the chest, sending her stumbling backwards a few feet. Tiz came in with his sai and attacked the monster from behind. Uzurin swung around and kicked Tiz in the stomach, causing him to keel over painfully. By now, Peg had gotten up, and she ran over to help Tiz up. The two of them attacked at the same time, each slashing the front of the monster with their weapons. Sparks flew from him as he was hit, and he cried out in pain.

"This isn't what I came here to do!" he yelled in a frustrated voice. Pushing the Blue and Yellow Rangers aside, he turned to where the Trienith Red Ranger was fighting the Crodus. "You're my main target," he said, even though Will could not hear him. He prepared to shoot another blast of water at him.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tiz cried, kicking the monster from the side and causing him to stumble. The Yellow Ranger turned to Peg. "Hey, want to double team him?" She grinned nodded and grinned from under her helmet.

The two Rangers stood facing Uzurin, who now faced them as well. Peg created a large blast of water and sent it towards the monster just as Tiz sent electricity out to surround it. Both the Thunder and the Water hit Uzurin head on, making him cry out horribly in pain and fall backwards in a huge explosion.

Tiz and Peg both demorphed, not entirely willingly, exhausted from having used such large attacks with their powers. As the monster was destroyed, the Crodus disappeared as well, fading away as if they were disintegrating.

The other Rangers came up and demorphed as well, looking at their team mates in awe.

"That was awesome, guys!" Sean said, smiling at his friends.

The two Rangers looked at each other and smiled.

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Tiz remarked with a smirk. He put his hand on Peg's shoulder. "We make a pretty good team."

Peg nodded and was about to say something when a familiar voice was heard coming from the café. As they turned to look, they saw that Dan was standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall a little and grinning at them.

"Hey, guys," he said, his voice sounding a bit weak and tired. Peg immediately ran over to him and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back and smiled gently at her. After a few moments, they broke away from their hug and Dan looked down into Peg's eyes. As the other Rangers walked up to them, he whispered softly to the Blue Ranger. "I love you, too."

Rufus felt overwhelmed with a million different emotions all hitting him at once. He felt simultaneously furious at Uzurin for losing, disappointed in himself for not getting revenge for Stephen, and worried about what Stephen would say when he woke up. Gazing through the telescope, he sighed audibly, his brow knit with the impact of all the emotions he was feeling. Erica stood not too far away from him and watched him silently, not knowing what to do or say.

At last, Rufus turned away from the telescope and went into his room, closing the door behind him and sitting on the edge of his bed. He held his head in his hands, losing himself in thought. He hoped that Stephen would wake up soon so this nightmare would be over.

Erica watched as Rufus left the room. She sighed sadly, wishing she could do something to make him feel better. Although he was the youngest, she knew that he felt the need to be the leader while Stephen was out of it. The stress was getting to him, she could see. Erica felt so helpless right now. She wanted to make Rufus feel better, but she was at a loss of how to go about doing that. Deciding there was nothing she could do, she went into her own room and closed the door.

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A/N: Oooh, teh shippyness! I hope you guys liked it! Leave a review!

Wearer of the Black Hat: Becca is not a character in this fanfic. She's from the role play that Beth was writing. Sorry if you didn't catch that. Beth was writing the post to a role play, and Becca is a character in that. The role play is a real one on Ranger-Power, if you'd like to read it. It's called Night School: Survival of the Fittest. And, they couldn't capture the Chaos Three just yet. There is still a long way to go with this fanfic, so we can't have it resloved yet.

Sexi Silver: I'm glad you liked it! Will is so awesome, isn't he? Again, I apologize for the long wait for this chapter.

Angel-of-light91: Same thing I said to Wearer of the Black Hat.

lil Cwick: Glad you liked it!

juzblue: I never really said how old Will was, but for the record, he's about 36. That will be more important later on.